LEWISTON, Maine --A music legend in
Asbury Park, N.J., as a founding member of what became Bruce Springsteen's E
Street Band, Bill Chinnock was also a legend among Mainers stricken with Lyme
disease.

The Emmy-winning singer-songwriter had been waging his own battle with the
tick-borne illness that can cause exhaustion and joint pain while leaving
patients confused and forgetful.

"I don't know how he did it, but he always stayed so positive," said Jodi
Ireland, who was devastated at the news that Chinnock, 59, committed suicide
March 2 at his home in Yarmouth. "I can't believe he gave up," she told the Sun
Journal of Lewiston.

Chinnock's manager said he took his own life. His sister blamed his death
on the disease he had been living with for years.

Friends and family members gathered Saturday at the First Parish
Congregational Church in Yarmouth for a celebration of Chinnock's
life.

His elder son, John Chinnock, said his father lived the life he wanted and
followed his dream.

As neighbors in Fairfield, Chinnock and Ireland both became sick in the
late 1990s. Chinnock helped Ireland find a diagnosis for the crushing fatigue,
headaches and numbness that plagued her.

"We realized we were both having a lot of the same symptoms," said Ireland,
a dance teacher now struggling with a Lyme relapse.

Chinnock eventually saw a doctor in Connecticut who diagnosed his illness
as Lyme disease. He called Ireland, excited, urging that she undergo testing
that would show that she also had the disease.

"I will always feel that I owe him so much. He helped save my life,"
Ireland said.

Chinnock and Ireland went through treatment, including antibiotics, but
some symptoms persisted. After Chinnock moved to Yarmouth several years ago, the
two kept in touch.

More than 23,000 new cases of Lyme disease were reported in the U.S. in
2005, nearly 250 of them in Maine, according to the National Centers for Disease
Control. If caught early, the disease can be cured with antibiotics, experts
say, but those who go undiagnosed for years can develop chronic and severe
symptoms that leave them bed-ridden.

"It's almost like a death every time you get sick again," Ireland
said.

Constantly upbeat and unfailingly positive, Chinnock was a champion for the
Lyme disease community in Maine. Like many Lyme patients, he had his ups and
downs but always seemed eager to comfort others.

He advocated for greater public education about the disease and met with
Lyme sufferers, recommending doctors and suggested treatments. Sometimes he
simply ...

commiserated, a blessing to patients who felt unheard
for so long.

"A lot of people knew Bill. He helped a lot of people get diagnosed,"
said Constance Dickey of Hampden, founder of the MaineLymeDisease support group
on Yahoo and chairwoman of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases
Society.

In 2004 and 2005, Chinnock seemed to be doing well. An herbal supplement
had been helpful and he was working long hours on a new album, the first in
years.

But when Chinnock called to check in with Ireland last year, he told her he
wasn't feeling well again. That was the last time she heard from him.

Some Lyme patients now wonder how they can be strong enough to handle the
waves of pain and fatigue if Chinnock, their champion, couldn't.

"This has been a huge emotional blow," said Dickey, the support group
founder. "It has rocked the community."

But even as they grieve, Lyme patients say they hope Chinnock's death will
draw attention to the need for research and education about Lyme
disease.